Reviews

Ministry: Filth pig

10/11/08 || Daemonomania

This album is near and dear to my heart, for one reason or another. It was a transition album into the “darker” genres of music, and a favorite in late-night drugscapades. Plus I have a t-shirt (with the cover artwork) that is just about shredded with age, and have gotten many a great comment on it. My favorite was a little kid in the Bronx, who saw the shirt and said, “look mommy, that guy’s got spaghetti on his head!” His mother halfheartedly agreed and quickly moved the child away from me. So forgive me for going a bit too in-depth here, as this piece of plastic is something I’m more intimate with than your grandmother – which is pretty damn intimate indeed.

All that schmaltz aside, “Filth pig” was a big album for Ministry. Their cover of Dylan’s “Lay lady lay” made it onto alternative radio. At the time the term alternative conjured up something radical and different and cool. I was 14, if that helps you understand my frame of mind. Alternative radio would play things that basically broke down into three categories:

You can guess where Ministry fit in. That’s right, the DMB category! Wrong, dumbshit. Yep, “Lay lady lay” was edgy enough to be alternative, but quite palatable by Ministry standards. Sure, “Jesus built my hotrod” was on the radio, but not as constantly. And they had a video for it (which sucked)! Alien Jorgenson moved more toward a groovy, somewhat post-rock approach to the industrial metal he had helped invent. Gone are the pounding, sample-heavy tracks of the past. Hello more fleshed out, organic SONGS that sound less cut and paste. And he started using clean vocals again, but of course had them distorted to hide the fact that he sounds like a whiny bitch when he “sings.” Distorted clean vocals, you say? Isn’t that somewhat of an oxymoron? Fuck you, I reply.

Does that mean “Filth pig” is better than the albums that came before it? Well, a record composed of chimps giving each other the shocker (two in the pink, one in the chimpy stink) would be better than the synth-pop stuff Ministry was putting out in the mid-80’s. As a whole it is more listenable but less evilly abrasive than “Land of rape…”, but less stuffed with great tracks than “Psalm 69.” So kind of in the middle. The reason it is kind of in the middle is because of the songs that are kind of in the middle of da pig. Some are tedious, some are just a bit too weird for most. “Useless,” “Crumbs,” and the title track tend to drone on and hurt the brain. “The Fall” and “Game show” are long and odd, like a trollpenis. Not bad, mind you, but not an everyday listen and not everyone’s cup of trollpenis extract.

Where “Filth pig” shines is its tracks filled with chunky, malicious, and almost stoner groove. “Lava” has a riff that could sink a battleship with low vox that grumble along in a Southern fashion. “Dead guy” is another awesome track with great lyrics (from what I can make out). “Reload” is a violent opener with some of the chunk intact, but is short and sweet and mean. The aforementioned “Lay lady lay” is a cool psychedelic take on the original and deserved to be the single, and the final track “Brick windows” does a nifty job of merging the experimental side with the industrial groove. And there’s decipherable lyrics to boot! Fantastic, sayeth I.

So there you have it. On an overall scale, there’s only 5 excellent tunes out of ten. Which makes scoring the album on a scale of ten really easy. Half-quality half-not wouldn’t normally justify a great score, but somehow “Filth pig” really works well as a whole. So that adds a point. Plus, nostalgia adds a point. And the cover art, nifty American flag design on the disc, and my torn up shirt adds another. Plus, everyone thought it was me on the shirt (why, I don’t know), but I won’t add anything for that.

I forgot to mention the production and the playing of particular instruments. Oh well. The production is quite good, and it is a Ministry album, so take the various instrumental positions for what you will.

That leaves “Filth pig” with a grand total of… drum roll please… 8 out of 10.